"Free speech is not allowed in a number of European countries. And free speech is still doing just fine."

Europe banning speech doesn't make it ok. The truth has nothing to hide.

No it's not. Nothing should be undiscussable.

Free speech simply does not exist in a number of (perhaps any?) European countries.

I believe the citizens of those countries might respectfully disagree.

The US is somewhat absolutist relative to the global average on this topic (and even the US isn't complete freedom of speech---pornography law exists, as do various extremely tight constraints on pedophilia imagery).

As a citizen of a European state I can guarantee you that close to everyone here is very aware that we don't live in a legislation that permits free speech. If america decides that they're limiting their speech as well I wouldn't know where to go to discuss. The darknet, presumably, or maybe some shell company on an island nation that rents servers.

That's a good point, and maybe it would be interesting to compare how much Holocaust denial is a problem in these countries and in the US.

Has the criminalization of such hate speech helped at all with solving the problem?

That being said, a lot of countries in Europe do not have the concept of "free speech" as is it defined in the US.

> You will find that Holocaust denying specifically has been banned by law from a number of European countries for a very long time.

European countries were never a bastion of freedom. That's why nazi germany existed in europe, not in america. I love people bringing up europe as some example that we should follow. They most definitely are not.

> And free speech is still doing just fine.

No it's not. That's the point.

Free speech exists to defend offensive/fringe/hateful speech. Popular speech doesn't need free speech protection after all. If free speech exist to protect anything, it is holocaust denial. Think about it. What good is free speech if it can't protect the most offensive speech?